Business travel

UAE terror threat

Jun 18th 2008, 11:59by The Economist | LONDON

JUST what the local tourist bigwigs didn’t want to hear: Britain’s Foreign Office has changed its advice for Britons living in or coming to the United Arab Emirates. It has altered its assessment of the terrorism threat from "general" to "high". (There are four levels: high, general, underlying and low.) The website says:

We believe terrorists may be planning to carry out attacks in the UAE. Attacks could be indiscriminate and could happen at any time, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers such as residential compounds, military, oil, transport and aviation interests. You should maintain a high level of security awareness, particularly in public places.

It's fearsome stuff. Though the talk is of an "indiscriminate" attack, the Scotsman newspaper notes that Britain is the only country to have changed its advice, which suggests "there was specific intelligence of a threat to Britons".